John Singleton, an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker best known for directing “Boyz N the Hood” and “Poetic Justice,” has died Monday after he was taken off life support following complications from a stroke, a family representative confirmed. He was 51.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences mourned the loss of the “youngest-ever Best Director nominee and an inspiration to us all.”
Singleton became the first black filmmaker nominated for a Best Director Oscar for his debut feature from 1991, “Boys N The Hood.” He was only 24 at the time, and still remains the youngest director to receive that nomination.
His other major films include “Poetic Justice,” starring Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur; “2 Fast 2 Furious”; and a reboot of “Shaft” in 2000 with Samuel L. Jackson. Singleton also directed episodes of the hit shows “Empire” and “American Horror Story.”
Through his career, Singleton was outspoken about the struggles that black filmmakers faced getting their stories told. It was an issue he spoke up about through the final weeks of his life.
“It’s still very hard to get a film or a TV show on the air,” he told the Daily Beast in February. “It’s very, very difficult to get any type of pure vision out anywhere. But we’re trying. We’re still trying.”
